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By The Numbers: Panthers 4, Thrashers 3

by
Staff Writer
/ Florida Panthers

Panthers By The Numbers takes a closer look at some of the

interesting stats that you may or may have not known about.

Panthers 4, Thrashers 3

3:59 – The game wasn’t even four minutes old and two goals had found the back of the net. Colby Armstrong banged in the third chance to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead just 2:19 into the game as the puck slid just past Tomas Vokoun. The lead didn’t last long as Michael Frolik scored 1:40 later as he put home a rebound for his 16th of the season.

2 – There’s a bunch of two’s in this stat so just hear it out or read it out. Whatever it is. Jim Slater scored 2:39 after Frolik to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead heading into the second period, but Frolik netted his second of the night (17th of the season) to knot the score at two. For Frolik, it was the second time this season he has scored two goals in a game (December 23rd vs Nashville).

3 – The Panthers scored four goals to win 4-3 and you look at the stat sheet and you see that there was something similar in the first three goals. That would be center Stephen Weiss registering the second assist on the goal (Frolik’s two and Cory Stillman). It was the fourth time this season and second time in a row he had three points in the night but the first time the points all came off helpers.

8 – Florida’s first line was outstanding against the Thrashers. The combo of Weiss, Stillman and Frolik combined for eight points and were a plus-8 as a group. Weiss had the three assists and was a plus-3 while Stillman finished with a goal and an assist while also finishing a plus-3. Frolik was a plus-2 along with his two goals.

32 – One area that the Panthers didn’t seem to have much luck was the face-off circle as Atanta won 66% of the draws compared to the 34% for the Panthers (38 of 58 draws). Gregory Campbell won 64% of his draws (7 of 11) to lead the Cats while Kamil Kreps had a night he’d like to forget, winning only 1 of 9 face-offs (11%).

12 – The Panthers and Thrashers combined for 24 blocked shots as each team had 12 a piece. Shot-blocking machine Karlis Skrastins had a team-high 3 blocked shots for Florida while Ron Hainsey and Zach Bogosian finished with three blocked shots for Atlanta.

7 – Taking the initial shot on Richard Zednik’s second-period goal, Bryan McCabe picked up his seventh point in a four-game point streak he is currently on. McCabe registered his 20th assist on the season, his fifth during this streak.

6 – One would think that there would be more scoring when teams are playing 4-on-4, but that’s not the case for anyone in the NHL. Must be the limited time teams spend on 4-on-4. Florida and Atlanta skated 4-on-4 for just 1:14 of game time, but that resulted in goal for the Cats as Skrastins moved his way through the Atlanta defense, drew the defenders and sent it to Stillman for his 14th of the season. It was Florida’s sixth 4-on-4 goal this season, making tied for 9th in that category. Pittsburgh leads the league with 12 4-on-4 goals.